Norway Rugby League

[Justin666]

I am trying to promote the greatest game of all in Norway, and would like your feedback. Am currently working on a site for the development of the game, which can be found here: http://www.freewebs.com/norwayrl


Cheers

Justin

[Dakink]

Mate - good luck!!!

Love to see the game spread far and wide!

[Smithy]

I take it you are Aussie??
All the best.....i will check the site........

[Justin666]

I take it you are Aussie??
All the best.....i will check the site........


Yeah, I used to live in Australia. I am not Australian by citizenship though.

[Smithy]

Yeah, I used to live in Australia. I am not Australian by citizenship though.
No probs......I guess fields to play might be hard to find over there....???

[Justin666]

No probs......I guess fields to play might be hard to find over there....???


Yeah, true, but you just gotta make the best out of it. We will play on soccer fields.

[Smithy]

Good enough..............good luck

[Dakink]

And added to our International Links!

[Steelers]

Hope you do well... it might take a while... but hopefully you will gain some support :thumbsup:

[Justin666]

Update:


The following plan is what I intend to do with the pupils until the end of the school year, which is in 7-8 weeks.


- Still continue showing them RL videos in school time.




- After school, conduct some training sessions


1. Am thinking about conducting 2 X 1 hour training sessions a week
2. Will mainly focus on passing the ball, kicking the ball, catching the ball and playing touch football.
3. Maybe I could set up some games, where the local public can come and watch RL. But only if I feel the kids know how to play the game.



What do you guys think?

[Dakink]

Great idea - Gotta start somewhere and the kids are the best spot!

[SuperCliffy#01]

Justin666

Good luck in Norway, have you made any formal contact with the IRL (International Rugby League), also i would suggest that you write to the English Super League for some assistance, what ever that may be.cya

[Dakink]

Or Yanto from Holland and Der Kaiser from Germany for advice..

[Justin666]

Originally posted this article on http://www.lasttackle.co.uk


I grew up watching rugby league. As a young boy, it was the only sport I really paid a lot of attention to, although I was a keen follower of cricket. However, there was something about rugby league which caught my eye. I have been following the sport for almost 14 years now, and I enjoy it just as much as I did when I was younger. The sport has given me a lot of things; excitement, enjoyment, pleasure and satisfaction. It has given me so much, and I feel now that I should try and give something back to the sport which has given me so much. I am in a position to do so, so why not?

Most of you on Last Tackle know that I am a 24 year old male currently living and working in Norway. I am currently working at a primary school not so far away from where I live. I don?t teach a specific class; I teach mainly years 5-6-7, the elder group of kids at the primary school. Since I was employed at the school after working at other schools, I have run a special project with years 6 and 7. This is a special project because it is voluntary, no children have to be apart of it if they don?t wish. The project has been about teaching the children about the wonderful sport of rugby league. Since February, I have been teaching these children about the sport. Every week, the children who want to, can come to the school library, where they can watch rugby league tapes from my own collection. This method of teaching them the sport has proved effective. Learning the sport through watching it has made it easy for the kids to get a feel of what it is all about.

When I started the project, I had no problems convincing the children to come along and watch games. They were really enthusiastic and excited about the whole concept. It was something totally new for them, although they had heard the word ?rugby? before. Although they had heard it, most of them confused it with American football, which I might add is totally different to rugby league. This confusion is no more amongst the children who now understand the sport.
Teaching the children about the sport was quite simply easy. I had no problems teaching them the rules. Learning the sport is much easier if you are motivated for learning about it. It took the children just a few weeks to understand the basics of the sport, something which gobsmacked me. I had not thought that they could have learnt and understood the sport so quickly.

After a few weeks, I could see that the number of kids who were coming to the library to watch games was decreasing. I was a bit upset; however, there were still a lot of children coming to watch games. Interest was still high. Through the Last Tackle forum, I got into touch with Tim Karlov, a male from Tasmania who also is very keen on developing the sport. He gave me a few pointers, ie who to contact if I wanted to develop the game. He set me up with the ARL, Oztag and the RFL. Without Tim, I don?t think I would have thought about contacting these federations at all. I would like to thank you Tim for setting me up with these federations, and for supporting me throughout this whole development stage.

As interest for RL was high, I thought it might be a good idea to let the children have a feel of what it is like to play the game, not just watch it. I got in touch with these federations, and have so far received some balls and coaching programmes from the RFL. I am greatly grateful for this. I am also awaiting a package from Oztag, where I have been promised tag belts and much more. I don?t want the kids playing tackle just yet; they are too young and inexperienced.With all this equipment, it will be possible for me to teach these kids how to play the game.

From next week on until the summer break, which starts in 5 weeks, I will be taking the children out and teaching them the basics of the sport. Every child in years 6 and 7 know about this. Again, this is voluntary. However, I have had lots of positive feedback from the children, and the teachers/administration about this idea, so that?s good. With the little amount of weeks remaining, there won?t be time to organise any games for the kids to play in. There will be a lot of time for that next year though.

Well, that?s the state of Norwegian RL at the current moment. It is still in its infancy, but I have big plans for the sport in this country, although I will be focussing on the local region for a while. I am committed to developing the sport in this country, and I hope I will succeed. Lets see what happens!


PS. Thanks to everyone who has supported me!

[Dakink]

Great work - Spreading the game isnt necessarily about developing a country to be able to compete with Aus and co, but introducing the game to a wider audience!!

If all that the Norway RL can develop too, is a junior base in one area to start off, then so be it!!

Any new people being exposed to the game is a bonus!!!

Great work!

[Queenslander]

Great work mate :clap: Keep spreading the word about the great game Rugby League. You never know when Norway starts a high level rugby league competition it could be called the Justin666 Cup :)

[Justin666]

Today, myself and 5 kids were practising some rugby drills. We were practising how to pass and how to play the ball. These kids are very interested in the sport, so I decided to reward their interest by letting them play a little game of touch. As there were only 5 kids, we needed one more player, so I decided to come on. I told the kids that I wasn't gonna crush em or anything :P

Anyway, it all went well. The kids played really well. The only problem was that the kids (on the attack) had some problems standing behind the ball carrier. They are all used to soccer, I guess. They also threw the ball forward a couple of times, but overall, I am very pleased about the amount of progress these (and the other participating) children have made the last few weeks.


As another reward, I am going to let these and the other kids play a game of Oztag next week. You may not know this, but the school year ends in less than 3 weeks, and since I do not know about my work situation at the school for next year, I might as well let them have a real go at playing. If I happen to be working at the same school next year, I will be concentrating a lot more on developing the game.


In other news, I received a letter today from a fellow Norwegian, who tried to introduce the game to a town/region not so far away from where I live. He tried introducing the game in 1994, but it never kicked off. I will be keeping in touch with this man from now on.



Thats all the news I have so far. Keep checking back here for more and even check my website every now and then. I will be updating it regularly.



Justin

[Dakink]

Good luck with the development!!!

Keep us posted with your efforts!!

[Justin666]

Another updated


How lucky am I? :D


Just received a package today from the New South Wales Rugby League academy. The package contained 5 medium sized balls, which means I now have 11 in total! It also contained 2 NSWRL shirts, a cap, several coaching programmes and more. I am very happy about this!

I am going to personally thank everyone (even more :) ) who has supplied me with balls and other equipment, because without them, I wouldn't have been able to have introduced RL to the kids. I would also like to thank everyone else for sticking by me, and I hope you will stick by me next school year too, as I plan to continue this work! You see, my school has plans for renewing my contract for another year. The principal has actually promised me work for next year, but nothing is certain until I actually get the contract. But I am pretty certain that there will be no problems.

I have big plans for the sport in my school next year. I plan on further developing the kids' knowledge of the game. As of now, the children have a good knowledge of the game, and they want to know more. I am thinking of making a few teams within my school, and maybe, just maybe, this will develop into more teams around the district. This is a goal of mine, but I am not going to get my hopes up. I don't want to rush into things so quickly.


Anyway, today was a great day. I don't think I have told you this, but every day, for half an hour, I take the kids out to the nearby soccer field to play rugby league. Some don't want to play yet, so they just kick and pass the ball, which is fine. I don't want to force anyone into playing the game. Heck, they might want to play once they feel the time is right.
Today, about 50 children came down to the field, either to pass/kick or play touch rugby. I am not going to introduce tackle yet, as it can be very dangerous. The parents might worry too! I am going to use the tag belts I received from Oztag a while ago, so this should be very exciting. I know the kids are excited about it!



There may only be 2 weeks left until the end of the school year, but I have promised the kids that there will be a little tournament towards the end of the school year. There will be teams (not big teams), probably about 4-5 on each team. The kids are excited about this, and so am I! I love teaching them the sport. They are so enthuasiastic about the whole concept!


There won't be a lot happening for Norway RL during the summer, as I am off to Australia for 2 months, but when I come back to a new school year, I will be continuing with this project!



Thanks for reading this. Thanks a lot :)

[DIEHARD]

I'm really happy things are going well and that NSWRL Academy sent something over to you.

Please keep us informed about what you are up, as I find it very interesting and best of luck with it, keep at it no matter the set backs.

Good luck with the little tournament you have planned with your class. Im sure you can set up that would be easy to work and have a lot of incentive for the kids.

Have you considered OzTag/LeagueTag for the kids? It would be a fantastic pathway for kids and everyone could be involved.

I hope the goods news and good times continues to come your way.

[Justin666]

Just a quick note guys to tell you that everything is going really, really well. The kids are actually playing Oztag, and the more they play, the more routined they become. It is becoming more and more natural the more they play, which is excellent.


Also, the teachers in my school have expressed some interest in the game, so I have been teaching some of them how to play the game and what drills/excercises you can use with the kids. One of the teachers has actually introduced the sport to his year 4 class B) They loved it B)

[Dakink]

Fantastic news - any chance of any pics?

[Justin666]

Nah, havent got that far yet, mate.

I am going to organise some tournaments next school year though, so I will try and take some pictures then :)

[Justin666]

A lot has happened during the last time I posted. The highlight has been a RL tournament, which was held last week. Read it here!



Summary of the RL tournament at my school on 29.09.06



On the 29.09.06, my school, and possibly the whole of Norway, held the first ever RL tournament for children. The children who were going to participate were at different playing levels. Some had played a lot, some had some knowledge of the game, and some joined up without even knowing anything about the game. However, all the children who showed up had one thing in common. They were pumped up and ready to go! I knew this was going to be a successful tournament.

Before the tournament, 21 children had decided they were going to play in the tournament. Also, a number of other kids had decided they were just going to watch. However, when the kids met at the gymnasium, 26 children said they were going to play! That is 5 more than anticipated! Plus, some of the children who were going to play were absent, so there were about 10 children who decided to meet up without telling me beforehand! This was good and bad. The good part was that there were more children than I had anticipated. The more, the better I thought. Also, I only had 7 teams, because there were going to be 3 on each team. I originally wanted 8 teams, and I got that. Two teams had one reserve each. The bad part was that I had to rearrange the teams, because of the new players who I had not thought were going to be there. Anyway, enough of that.


The first match was played by TEAM 1 and TEAM 2. I will not name players? names. The first match was a very close fought match. Nothing really seperated the teams, except a try that is. TEAM 1 scored 2 tries and TEAM scored 1. Final score 8-4. TEAM 1 advanced to the semis, TEAM 2 were eliminated.


The second match was played by TEAM 3 and TEAM 4. This match was pretty one sided. Despite TEAM 4 having two players who had never played before, these players played exceptionally well, scoring 3 tries (one scored one and the other two). The final score was 12-0. TEAM 4 advanced to the semis, TEAM 3 were eliminated.


The third match was played by TEAM 5 and TEAM 6. This match, like the first match, was a very close fought match. TEAM 5 won 8-4. TEAM 5 advanced to the semis, TEAM 6 were eliminated.


The fourth and final match before the semis was contested between TEAM 7 and TEAM 8. None of the players on these teams had ever played RL before. However, TEAM 8 were about to show the rest of the teams that they meant business after flogging TEAM 7 by 24-8. TEAM 8 advanced to the semis, TEAM 7 were eliminated.


The teams that advanced to the semis were teams 1,4,5 and 8.


TEAM 1 vs TEAM 4


TEAM 5 vs TEAM 8





In the first semi final, TEAM 5 played TEAM 8. Both teams were competitive and equally strong, but TEAM 8 snuck home by 20-12. TEAM 8 advanced to the grand final, TEAM 5 were eliminated.


In the other second final, TEAM 1 played TEAM 4. Both teams were competitive, but TEAM 4 were just too strong, winning 24-16.



The teams that advanced to the grand final were teams 4 and 8.


This match had everything. It had a lot of tries, passion, and the crowd was right behind both teams! Both teams were equally strong. The teams scored try after try; the lead changed several times. But, one of the players was about to be the hero of the day. The score was 20-20 and there was 10 seconds to go. One boy on TEAM 4 had the ball, sidestepped a few players. He had one player to beat. He got passed him, and was about to go for the try. As he was putting the ball down, the other guy jumped on him, hurting the guy?s leg. The try had been scored and TEAM 4 had won 24-20, but the try scorer was in so much pain he was crying. I rushed over to him and asked him if he was alright before I told him he had scored the winning try. He was absolutely thrilled, despite being in a lot of pain. The crowd was jumping for joy too, after witnessing such an enthralling match!


At the end, all players (except those who had left), received their diploma. The ones who had left will receive after the autumn break. Also, the winning team received a RL game on dvd featuring Leeds and Hull from Headingley, which was played in 2005. They loved it!


In conclusion, the tournament was a success and the kids want to have another one really soon. One girl who did not play wanted me to organise one every week, but I dont think that will be possible! Maybe once every month. It was a shame that not a lot of parents turned up, but the ones who turned up thought it was great. Hopefully, they will come next time.
Even though the tournament was a success, I am going to make the tournament even better by implementing these ideas:


- Have 2 linesmen for every game. Their job will be to tell me when a player has gone out of touch, when the ball is out of touch and if a player has grounded the ball properly, if my view is obscured.
- Have one person write down which players score and when they scored.
- Get someone to use the school video camera and film the games.







If you want to participate in the development of Norwegian RL, please go to this forum - http://forums.lasttackle.com/index.php?showforum=141

It is my mate's forum. It is really good, and it even has a forum for Norway! Be sure to read it!

My mate will also be making me a new Norwegian site, which should be ready by next week!

[Justin666]

The second RL tournament under Oztag rules was played at Hannestad primary school, Sarpsborg Norway on Friday, 27th October 2006. The tournament, played a month after the first ever tournament, had a total of 23 participants. Although there were some kids who weren?t present due to being ill, we managed to get 8 teams of 3 together. This meant some kids played for two teams.


This tournament was far more successful than the previous tournament, in my ways. Firstly, the kids? playing skills have improved far greatly. They also have developed a real passion for the game. They are really focused on the rules, and they don?t like unfair play, and they always yell out when something not allowed has happened, like a forward pass or a knock on. Secondly, I was able to get some of the kids (not just those who were active participants), to assist me, by being touch judges and ?try judges? (if I was unsure about whether to give a try or not, I asked the kids who were try judges. Although some of the kids forgot about their important role and went to sleep (not literally), they helped me out tremendously. Thirdly, I was able to get some kids to help me film the games. I have checked out the filmage, and it looks really good. You get a good idea of the kids? playing levels (it is really good for unroutined players).


Onto the tournament itself. I used the same system as I did last tournament. There were 8 teams, and the fixtures were as follows:


Team 1 vs Team 2 ? Winner goes to the semis

Team 3 vs Team 4 ? Winner goes to the semis

Team 5 vs Team 6 ? Winner goes to the semis

Team 7 vs Team 8 ? Winner goes to the semis


Semi final 1: Winner of match 1 vs winner of match 2

Semi final 2: Winner of match 3 vs winner of match 4


Grand final: Winner of semi final 1 vs winner of semi final 2





Team 1 took on team 2 in the first match. Both teams looked equally strong on paper, but team 1 was too good in the end, scoring 3 tries to 1. Team 1 won 12-4 over team 2.


After the match, team 3 took on team 4. Although both teams looked equally strong on paper in terms of playing skills, team 4 had just too much pace for team 3. They were just too fast and utilised the holes they found. Team 4 scored 5 tries to 2. Team 4 won 20-8 over team 3.


After the match, team 5 took on team 6. Both teams looked equally strong on paper, but team 6 snuck home by scoring the winning try. Team 6 won 20-16 over team 5 in a thrilling match.


The final match before the semis saw team 7 take on team 8. Yet again, both teams looked equally strong, but team 7 were just too good, scoring 7 tries to 2. Team 7 won 28-8.


So, after the first round, teams 1, 4, 6 and 7 had advanced to the semis.


In the first semi final, team 1 took on team 4. It was a very close match, but team 1 just had that X factor, winning by 24-16. Team 1 had advanced to the grand final.


In the second semi final, team 6 took on team 7. This was a close match too, but team 7 snuck home with a try close to fulltime, to win by 24-20.


The grand final was to be contested by team 1 and team 7.


The grand final was a special treat, for the kids, for me and for everyone really. In my opinion, I thought team 7 just looked too good on paper, but how wrong was I going to be. Team 1 led straight from the front and caught out team 7 on many occassions. They managed to win, but not by a close margin. They thrashed team 7 by 24-12. Team 1 had won to everyone?s surprise. They were ecstatic.


At the end, all the kids sat anxiously, waiting for the prizes. I gathered them around me, and one by one, I called out the kids and gave them their prize. Every kid received a diploma, a dvd featuring the first game of the 2004 tri nations series between Great Britain and Australia, a set of simple rugby league rules I had written, a list of dvds I have that the kids can earn by playing at school and by participating in tournaments. Everyone was grateful for what they received.


All in all, it was a fantastic tournament. The kids loved the game, and I am really looking forward to hearing what they think about the real game (the dvd). Although there were some kids who objected to certain kids being touch judges due to suspicion of bias, it was a great tournament.



I am sure the next tournament will turn out to be another great tournament.

[brn2bwyld]

Good luck buddy. Imagine the lauh pad morway could be for the rest of scandinavia. I twill take a bit of time. The game does alright in russia. maybe a tour by one of thier teams?

[SuperCliffy#01]

All that matters is that this is a beginning and it sounds like it is working, so keep up the great work mate.cya. :hi: